Device for separating oil from water



June 3, 1 J. S. ADAMS ETAL DEVICE FOR SEPARATING OIL FROM WATER Filed March 14, 1950 m 0 A 5 w y Paul E Wilson IN VEN TORS Patented June 3, 1952 DEVICE FOR- SEPARATING OIL FROBI 'WATER JamesS. Adams, Long Beach, andgPaul E. Wilson, Tujunga, Calif;

Application March 14, 1950, Serial No. 149,528

1 Claim.

, 1 This invention relates to a device for utilizing centrifugal force for separating materials of different densities and more particularly pertains to an improvement over Patent No. 1,831,473, issued November 10, 1931.

The instant invention accordingly, has the same objects of the aforementioned patent.

It is the primary object of this invention to increase the utility and the performance characteristics of the patented device; more specifically to make the same suitable for separating materials more resistant to separation, such as meal and fish oil, and to increase the rateof separation without necessitating an increase in the size, rotative speed, or power operating requirements of the device. The improved device is capable of realizing the foregoing objects by the provision in the zone of rest of a disk or baffle having the dual function of reducing agitation in the zone of rest, for reducing turbulence, and the attendant mixing of the mixture with one of the separated mixture components, and for directing and physically separating the entering raw mixture from the stream of one of the-components' being educted.

These, together with various ancillary features and objects of the invention which will later become apparent as the following description proceeds, are attained by the present invention, a preferred embodiment of which has been illustrated by way of example only in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a central vertical sectional viewof the present invention, with portions of the same being shown in side elevation; and

Figure 2 is a horizontal sectional detail view, this view being taken from the plane of the section line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Reference is now made more specifically to the accompanying drawings, wherein like numerals designate similar parts throughout the various views, and in which the reference numeral I designates generally an upright frame formed of side members I2, the upper ends of which are convergent and connected together by means of a plate I4, while the lower ends of the members I2 are connected by brace bars I6.

Centrally and vertically disposed in the frame I6 is a hollow shaft I8, which shaft I8 is journaled for rotation about a vertical axis at its upper end in a suitable packing means including a flanged sleeve 20 secured to the plate I4 by bolts 2I and adjacent its lower end ina hearing '22 carried by the upper of a pair of vertically spaced disks 24 through which the shaft I8 sextends to communicate through suitable packing glands 26 with a raw mixture conduit 28. It will be understood that the disks 24 are suitably secured to the members I2 as at 30, and a pulley, not shown, is disposed between the disks '24 and fixed .to the shaft I8, whereby the shaft 18 is 2 rotated by a belt 82 that is driven by a prime mover, not shown.

Disposed about the shaft I8 is a receptacle 134 having a discharge spout 36, through which receptacle 34 the shaft I8 rotatably extends, and it will be noted that suitable packing means :38 is provided adjacent the bottom of the receptacle 34 to prevent leakage between the receptacle 34 and the shaft I8, which includes a flanged sleeve'39 secured to the under side of the receptacle by bolts 41 and between which packing 43 isdisposed in an annular recess in the receptacle 34.

A conical housing, indicated generally at 46, is also disposed about the shaft I8 and includes upwardly tapering conical side walls .42, the upper ends of which closely but rotatably receive the shaft I8 and a bottom wall 44 that is slightly concaved and centrally terminates in a depending tubular member 46 that is spaced from the shaft I8, and which extends downwardly into the interior of the receptacle 34.

The receptacle 34 is supported by legs 48 resting upon the top disk 24, and the housing 40 and the receptacle 34 are both supported andsecured against rotation by a disk 56 secured to the members I2 intermediate the height of the frame ID, the receptacle 34 being provided at its top with an inturned flange 52 and the tubular member .46 being provided with an annular flange 54, these flanges being connected by means of bolts 56 which pass through the disk '50. .As clearly seen in Figure 1, a suitable packing gland and packing is disposed between the flanges 52 and 54 for preventing leakage between the tubular member 46 and the receptacle 34, which consists of a flanged sleeve 58 through which bolts 56 extend and packing 58 contained between the disk 56 and the member 46 and also seated between the sleeve 58 and the flange 52.

As clearly shown in the drawings, the shaft I8 is provided adjacent the upper end of the housing 46 with a plurality of radial openings 60 to permit the ingress of material from the housing 46 into the shaft I8, and similarly, adjacent the lower end of the housing 46, the shaft I8 is provided with a plurality of radial openings 62 to permit the :egress of material from the shaft I8 into the housing 46. Secured to theshaft 18, as by welding or the like, above the opening 62 is a disk 64., and it will be noted that the disk 64 passes through the shaft I8 so that there ,is no communication thru'the shaft I8 between the openings 66 and .62. The shaft 18 is provided with a plurality of vanes 66., the lower edges of which are suitably secured to the disk :64, which vanes 66 are upwardly tapering and terminate below the opening 66. The purpose of the vanes 66 is to impart rotary motion .to amaterialcontained within the housing 46 upon rotation 0f the shaft I8. In the preferred construction, the vanes 266 are each radially curved to enhance the of the housing. It will be noted that the inner edges of the track are spaced from the free edges of the vanes 66. The purpose of the spiral track 68 is to act in conjunction with the downwardly converging walls 42 to force material that is 1'0- tating within the housing 40 adjacent the walls 42 downwardly towards the bottom 44 of the housing 40.

A baflie plate or disk of substantially the.

same diameter as disk 64 and having a central opening 12 is disposed on the shaft I8 below the opening 62 and spaced above the bottom wall 44, being secured thereto as by welding or the like as desired. The function of the bafiie disk 16 and its important contribution to the overall performance of the separator assembly will shortly become manifest.

The operation of the separator assembly will be readily understood. A mixture of materials of different densities is pumped from the conduit 28 into the lower end of the shaft I8, which shaft is, of course, being rotated during operation of the device. Since the shaft I8 is closed intermediate its ends by the disk 64, the materials will pass into the housing 40 proper from the shaft l8 through the opening 62, and it is to be noted porticularly that such materials are confined to the space between the disks 64 and 10 until such materials have moved radially outwardly to the peripheries of the spaced disks ad,- jacent the spiral track 68. It will be obvious that a mixture of materials of different densities within the housing 4!] will berotated by the vanes 66, and that the denser components of the mixtureof materials will be thrown outwardly against the side walls 42 and the spiral track 68, which side walls and track cooperate in forcing the denser material downwardly adjacent the side walls 42, while the lighter components of the mixture assume relative positions closer to the shaft 18. Accordingly, in the manner described in the Patent 1,831,473, the lighter component enters the shaft 18 through the opening 60 above the provision of the bafiieplate I0, this difiiculty has been largely if not entirely overcome, because the baflie plate 10 is physically interposed between the stream of inducted raw mixture and the downward course of flow of the heavier component within the zone of rest. Accordingly, without any appreciable decrease whatsoever in the separation eificiency of the device, the rate of admission of material through the conduit 28 may be increased substantially. Undoubtedly, the vastly increased performance characteristics of the improved device disclosed herein resides in the disk l0 reducing the turbulence in the zone of rest so that commingling is reduced and the circumferential velocity of the heavier component in the zone of rest decreases more rapidly to permit faster flow of the same through the tubula member 46.

Since, from the foregoing, the construction and advantages of this invention are readily apparent, further description is believed to be unnecessary. However, since numerous modifications and equivalents will readily occur to those skilled in the art after a consideration of the foregoing specification and accompanying drawings, it is not intended to limit the invention to the exact embodiment shown and described, but all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to which fall within the scope of the appended claim. Having described the invention, what is claimed as new 1s:

In a centrifugal separator, a vertically disposed and conically shaped housing, a hollow vertical shaft extending through the housing for rotation therein, a horizontal, radially extending disc secured to and closing said hollow shaft intermediate its ends, one end of said shaft forming an outlet for a separated mixture component and the other end constituting an inlet for a mixture, the hollow shaft having inlet openings above the disk; and discharge openings below the disk, a second disk secured to said shaft below and parallel to the first mentioned disk, the discharge openings being confined between the disks, means the disk 64 for discharge through the coupling 14 at the upper end of the shaft 18, while the heavier component descends in the housing adjacent the side walls 42 to the bottom 44 of the housing 49, it being noted that a relatively quiescent zone exists in the housing 40 below the vanes 56 and disk 64. In this zone of rest, the heavier mixture component loses its circumferential velocity so as to'settle by gravity on the concaved bottom 44 of the housing 40 towards the shaft 18 so as to be discharged through the space between the tubular member 46 and the shaft [8 into the receptacle 34 and thence out the spout 36.

It will be readily apparent that the most critical stage in the separation of materials occurs in the region where raw mixtures are introduced in the housing 40 through the opening 62 adjacentthe bottom wall 44, or, in other words, in the zone of rest where it is essential that the heavier component loses its circumferential velocity so as to descend through the tubular member 46. Heretofore, it has been necessary to opcrate, devices of this character at a relatively low rate of mixture separation, so as to avoid commingling of the freshly inducted mixture with the heavier component in the zone of rest. By

. will lose its circumferential velocity so as to' adjacent the lower end of the housing and surrounding the shaft for educting a separated mixture component from the housing, said means being spaced below said second disk, said second disk providing a zone of rest in the base of the housing whereby the heavier mixture component settle by gravity to the bottom of the housing, said first and second disks being of substantially the. same diameter and having their peripheries spaced from the housing to permit vertical flow of a fluid therebetween.

JAMES S. ADAMS. 'PAUL E. WILSON.

-REFERENCES CITED The following referencesare of record in the file of this patent;

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number 7 Name Date 195,051 Sell Sept. 11, 1877 1,635,845 Holford July 12, 1927 1,664,769 Chance Apr. 3, 1928 1,831,473 Adams 1 Nov. 10, 1931 2,337,291 Adams et al. Dec. 21, 1943 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country :Date

8,593 Great Britain Apr. 8, 1909 

